{"id":213324,"date":"2016-05-10T18:43:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T18:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=213324"},"modified":"2016-05-10T18:43:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T18:43:00","slug":"mahama-likely-to-battle-nana-addo-in-iea-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/05\/mahama-likely-to-battle-nana-addo-in-iea-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahama likely to &#8216;battle&#8217; Nana Addo in IEA debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), has said it is\u00a0\u00a0considering organizing a presidential debate for the flagbearers of the two main political parties, President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Nana Akufo-Addo of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).<\/p>\n<p>The IEA disclosed\u00a0this\u00a0at the launch of its Presidential debates and Evening encounters in Accra ahead of the November polls.<\/p>\n<p>[contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;yG1N8ZzaqfES12BBTYktyxAsnRikPvqK&#8221;]If the decision is implemented, it would be the first time John\u00a0Mahama and Nana Addo will square up exclusively in a debate ahead of the polls.<\/p>\n<p>The IEA has been organizing presidential debates since 2008. The Institute says the new innovation is in response to the results of a survey which revealed a public desire for the two front runners in the presidential race to debate face to face.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mahama ready to debate Nana Addo<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">President Mahama had earlier <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/contextly.com\/redirect\/?id=3ZmYzSd985:213324:2934:13:::sidebar:57322ca513b9b7-44891510\">challenged Nana Addo to a debate<\/a><\/strong><\/span> in an interview with TV3.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to him, Nana Addo had been making some contentious statements thus, he was ready to debate the NPP\u2019s presidential candidate any day.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI\u2019m willing to debate Nana Akufo-Addo any day even if you call him today, I will put it here and start debating the issues. So I don\u2019t have a problem with debating Nana Addo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nana Addo responded to President Mahama&#8217;s challenge via Twitter saying said he would debate\u00a0President Mahama if it <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/contextly.com\/redirect\/?id=nN5lwi998O:213324:2934:13:::sidebar:57322ca513b9b7-44891510\">helped solve Ghana\u2019s problems<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWill President Mahama debating me solve Ghana\u2019s problems? If so, then I am ready to debate him anytime, anywhere and any day,\u201d The NPP flagbearer stated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Separate debate for other parties <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The institute also announced that\u00a0this time around,\u00a0it will hold a separate debate for all political parties without representation in parliament. This is contrary to the earlier arrangement where parties without representation in Parliament were exempted from the debate.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the media in Accra on Tuesday, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs Dr. Michael Ofori-Mensah, explained that these developments\u00a0are the two new initiatives they would be exploring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are two new initiatives under discussion for 2016 elections. First the IEA is exploring the possibility of holding a debate for the two main front-runners in the presidential election. The second is that we are at an advanced stage about holding a separate debate for political parties without representation in parliament,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Ofori-Mensah also said the debates are meant to create a level playing field for aspirants to debate national policies whilst also empowering citizens in demanding accountability.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the series has been designed to \u201cprovide a unique platform for presidential candidates to outline their vision of governance and provide dialogue between the candidates, to empower citizens in demanding accountability, to introduce an issue-based approach in the election campaign process and to promote peace before, during and after the election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonliine\/com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), has said it is\u00a0\u00a0considering organizing a presidential debate for the flagbearers of the two main political parties, President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Nana Akufo-Addo of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP). The IEA disclosed\u00a0this\u00a0at the launch of its Presidential debates and Evening encounters in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":213328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2647,2648,58,10,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mahama likely to &#039;battle&#039; Nana Addo in IEA debate - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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